10-year designation includes nearly $10 million in state funding
Empire State Development has announced its Division of Science, Technology & Innovation (NYSTAR) has awarded a Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) designation to the University at Buffalo. The University at Buffalo Center for Advanced Technology in Big Data & Health Sciences (UB CAT) will focus on big data and medicine, with an emphasis on drug development, medical devices and diagnostics.
ESD President, CEO and Commissioner Howard Zemsky said, "We are proud to support the groundbreaking research and development at the University of Buffalo through a new Center for Advanced Technology designation. Continued investments in these emerging industries will further promote New York state as a business-friendly leader in collaborative innovation, utilizing the staff, students and equipment at our world-class universities."
The UB CAT, part of the university's business and entrepreneur partnership office, supports technology commercialization and industry engagement with UB's faculty and students, and enables access to specialized equipment. Programs include matching funding for start-ups and mid-to-late stage development of drugs, biologics, diagnostics, devices, services and other related products with commercial potential.
Leveraging the university's expertise in data, life sciences, informatics and computer modeling, UB CAT will work with industry partners to support their innovation pipeline and growth. The creation of cost-effective technologies to generate, store and analyze massive amounts of data has led to the connection of big data and medicine. This rapidly evolving trend supports the many opportunities for innovation and development in health sciences.
Norma J. Nowak, Ph.D., principal investigator and Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences executive director, said, "UB has a long-standing relationship with this division of Empire State Development. This designation is a tribute to the UB team, their expertise and the work they do to drive technology-based economic development in our region."
ESD will support UB CAT with nearly $10 million in funding over the course of the 10-year designation, with additional support provided by the university and private industry. Private sector partners also contributed to the proposal by outlining joint projects that include nearly $1.5 million in matching contributions for the first year. UB had a prior CAT designation from 2007 to June 2017, which funded 173 applied research projects between 72 New York state life sciences companies and 68 UB faculty members.
NYSTAR funds 15 Centers for Advanced Technology across the state to encourage collaboration between private industry and universities in the development and application of new technologies. The CAT program, established in 1983, facilitates a continuing program of applied research, development and technology transfer in multiple technological areas, in collaboration with and through the support of private industry. CATs play a critical role in spurring technology-based applied research and economic development in the state; promoting national and international research collaboration and innovation; and leveraging New York's research expertise and funding with investments from the federal government, foundations, businesses, venture capital firms and other entities. Over the past five years, Centers for Advanced Technology helped create or retain more than 3,800 jobs and generated about $2.6 billion in economic impact.
ESD is New York's chief economic development agency (
www.esd.ny.gov). The mission of ESD is to promote a vigorous and growing economy, encourage the creation of new job and economic opportunities, increase revenues to the state and its municipalities, and achieve stable and diversified local economies. For more information on Regional Councils and ESD, visit
www.regionalcouncils.ny.gov and
www.esd.ny.gov.
